PEORIA, Ariz. — Logan Gilbert sat in the dugout and watched as the Saturday afternoon warmth and sunshine at T-Mobile Park turned into darkness and October cool.
For 18 innings and six hours, he cheered on his teammates as they battled the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, knowing that if they could somehow scratch out a few runs and pull out a victory, he would take the mound the next day, trying to even the series at 2-2.
But when Jeremy Pena hit a solo homer in the top of the 18th and the Mariners went scoreless in the bottom of the inning as they had done for the previous 17 innings, the travel and tumult of the magical postseason run came to a disappointing end.
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Instead of starting his 34th game of the season, Gilbert started an offseason where he knew he needed to rest more than ever before because he’d pitched more than ever before in his young pro career.
He made 32 regular season starts, posting a 13-6 record with a 3.20 ERA. In 185 2/3 innings, he struck out 174 batters with 49 walks and 19 homers allowed. With his start vs. the Astros in Game 1 of the ALDS, where he pitched 5 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and two walks, he threw 191 total innings.
It was a significant increase compared to the 124 1/3 innings he’d thrown in 24 MLB starts and one Triple-A start in 2021.
How did he feel when the season ended?
“I felt like I needed a break,” he deadpanned.
He took an entire month off after the season, trying to allow his body and mind to decompress from the rigors of the season and all those innings. It was something both he and the Mariners believed was needed. A maniacal worker every offseason, this represented a change and longer break than normal.
But he wasn’t completely free from activity.
He and his longtime girlfriend, Aviles, got married in November in a ceremony that featured several of his teammates in the wedding or in attendance. The couple even added a French bulldog puppy named Winnie.
“A lot of new things from the innings I threw, to getting married to just everything,” he said. “There were a lot of adjustments, but all good things.”
But once that month and the honeymoon was over, Gilbert went back to workouts and started throwing.
“I felt a little sore coming back and took it slower than normal on purpose this offseason,” he said. “But once I got out here, my arm started feeling great again. I kind of slow played it and worked through a little bit of soreness, but I’m feeling great now.”
One of his offseason goals was to implement a split-finger pitch to his repertoire that would replace a changeup that he rarely threw and felt was ineffective.
“I’ve tried the changeup and just kind of struggled with it,” he said. “It just wasn’t natural for me. I just tried to find basically a variation of it with a splitter that I can throw like a fastball. I should be able to throw it to lefties and hopefully righties as just as well.”
Gilbert started thinking about the pitch as a possibility last season, knowing he might want to add it this past offseason. He’d talked to pitching coaches he works with in the offseason in Florida, a few pitchers on the staff and to the Mariners pitching coaches. The downward sink and velocity difference from his fastball would offer a great offset.
“It’s still developing,” he said.
It became part of Gilbert’s offseason throwing work.
“As Logan always does, he’s always focused on picking up one or two things to make him a little bit better,” manager Scott Servais said. “Last year, he tried to pick up the tempo in his delivery and his time to the plate, which he was able to do much better. This offseason the focus was to come up with a changeup or a split that could be a little bit more usable for him. What I’ve seen in bullpens, it has been outstanding.”
The split-finger grip isn’t simple to learn and command. But Gilbert has massive hands with long fingers. A baseball looks like a golf ball when he grips it.
“I think that’s why the split-finger pitch is gonna work for him,” Servais said. “I do think his extension and kind of his arm action, how it works over the top, the split-change or whatever you want to call it, I think it could be a very effective pitch for him.”
It might have been one the best pitches of Gilbert’s start Thursday afternoon at Peoria Stadium. He threw it effectively a handful of times and was even able to get a swinging third strike on Fernando Tatis Jr. with the pitch.
“I threw a couple of good ones at the end,” Gilbert said. “The first couple I threw in the first inning weren’t great.”
It was an uneven first outing for Gilbert, who pitched 1 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
“I just felt a little off with my rhythm and timing, which is kind of what the first couple [starts] are about,” he said. “Hopefully, I can clean it up in the next outing. My fastball probably felt the worst, which is probably the first time ever. I felt pretty comfortable with the slider. Curve felt fine. I just left a ton of fastballs up.”
Given the increased workload of Gilbert and right-hander George Kirby, the Mariners made a conscious decision to slow play them in their buildup to the regular season. While Robbie Ray has made two starts and Marco Gonzales will make his second start of the spring Friday, Kirby won’t make his first Cactus League start until Saturday.
Gilbert understands the reasoning.
“For sure,” he said. “I threw way more than ever last year, and we’re planning to do it again this year. So I want to be out there as much as possible, but I know that they have a good idea of how to pace it out. But I just want to see hitters as much as possible and really work on stuff to get the timing and rhythm of it. I think they’re on track was probably the best idea for what I should do.”
But game reps matter to Gilbert.
“I’ve been feeling great in bullpens, locked in and the live BP was solid,” he said. “Then I got out there today and the game atmosphere kind of kicked in and I think that’s why I was leaving balls up.”